Caruana wins Reykjavik 2012, Hou misses big chance
3/13/2012 – We came this close to a major sensation. 18-year-old Hou Yifan, the reigning
women's world champion, had a winning position against the tournament leader Fabiano
Caruana, and would have finished the tournament in first place if she had steered
the game to victory. But Fabiano has some special guardian angels and escaped
with a draw and finished in sole first place himself. Final report.
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The The N1 Reykjavik Open 2012 is being held from March 6 to March 13, 2012, in Harpa, Reykjavik's spectacular new music hall on the harbour, just five minutes walk to downtown Reykjavik. The event is a nine-round Swiss, with top players including Fabiano Caruana, David Navara, Ivan Cheparinov, Ivan Sokolov, Hou Yifan, Robert Hess, Gawain Jones, Yuriy Kuzubov, Erwin l'Ami, and many others. The rate of play is 90 minutes for 40 moves, followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game, with 30 seconds increment from move one. Prizes are € 5,000 for the winner, € 2,000 for second place, € 1,250 for 3rd, etc., with a total of € 15,000.
Fabiano Caruana wins Reykjavik 2012
Before the final (ninth) round Italian GM Fabiano Caruana led the field by half a point. Behind him four GMs trying to catch him: Ivan Sokolov of the Netherlands, David Navara of the Czech Republic, Israeli Boris Avrukh and reigning women's world champion Hou Yifan. In the final round Sokolov drew Avruhk, and Navara drew his black game against Bulgarian GM Ivan Cheparinov. So the game Hou Yifan vs Fabiano Caruana would decide it all. This is how it went:
This draw left Fabiano Caruana (above) with 7.5/9 points and an unchallenged first place. Seven players were half a point behind the American born Italian, among them the unlucky Hou Yifan. Three players, Caruana, Sokolov and Hou did not lose any games, and all three displayed a performance above 2700.
Second: Dutch GM Ivan Sokolov, of Bulgarian/Bosnia extraction
In third place: Czech GM David Navara lost one game (to Sokolov)
Hou Yifan (above) gained a number of rating points and now stands at 2646 on ChessPro's live rating list of women. That is easily the second highest rating ever achieved by a female player – the extraordinary Judit Polgar is still 63 points ahead of the Chinese super-talent (who is 55 points ahead of her nearest rival, Anna Muzychuk).
Top final standings (after nine rounds)
Rk. |
Title
| Name | FED |
Rtg |
Pts. |
TB1 |
TB2 |
TB3 |
Perf. |
1 |
GM |
Caruana Fabiano | ITA |
2767 |
7.5 |
56.0 |
44.0 |
45.50 |
2777 |
2 |
GM |
Sokolov Ivan | NED |
2653 |
7.0 |
56.0 |
43.5 |
42.25 |
2744 |
3 |
GM |
Navara David | CZE |
2700 |
7.0 |
55.5 |
44.0 |
42.00 |
2709 |
4 |
GM |
Jones Gawain C B | ENG |
2635 |
7.0 |
53.0 |
41.0 |
39.00 |
2697 |
5 |
GM |
Avrukh Boris | ISR |
2591 |
7.0 |
51.5 |
42.0 |
37.75 |
2667 |
6 |
GM |
Hou Yifan | CHN |
2639 |
7.0 |
51.5 |
40.0 |
39.75 |
2677 |
7 |
GM |
Maze Sebastien | FRA |
2577 |
7.0 |
50.0 |
39.5 |
38.50 |
2569 |
8 |
GM |
Danielsen Henrik | ISL |
2504 |
7.0 |
48.5 |
38.0 |
38.00 |
2574 |
9 |
GM |
Cheparinov Ivan | BUL |
2664 |
6.5 |
56.0 |
44.5 |
38.00 |
2695 |
10 |
GM |
Hess Robert L | USA |
2635 |
6.5 |
53.5 |
42.0 |
36.50 |
2638 |
11 |
GM |
L'ami Erwin | NED |
2611 |
6.5 |
52.0 |
40.0 |
36.00 |
2543 |
12 |
GM |
Kryvoruchko Yuriy | UKR |
2666 |
6.5 |
51.5 |
40.0 |
36.25 |
2594 |
13 |
GM |
Stefansson Hannes | ISL |
2531 |
6.5 |
50.0 |
39.0 |
34.25 |
2541 |
14 |
GM |
Papin Vasily | RUS |
2575 |
6.5 |
49.5 |
39.5 |
35.00 |
2489 |
15 |
GM |
Baklan Vladimir | UKR |
2612 |
6.5 |
49.5 |
38.0 |
34.00 |
2578 |
16 |
GM |
Kveinys Aloyzas | LTU |
2512 |
6.5 |
49.0 |
38.5 |
34.50 |
2474 |
17 |
GM |
Steingrimsson Hedinn | ISL |
2556 |
6.5 |
48.5 |
37.5 |
33.75 |
2497 |
18 |
GM |
Halkias Stelios | GRE |
2588 |
6.5 |
48.5 |
37.5 |
33.50 |
2494 |
19 |
IM |
Akshayraj Kore | IND |
2422 |
6.0 |
52.5 |
42.5 |
32.00 |
2563 |
20 |
GM |
Kuzubov Yuriy | UKR |
2615 |
6.0 |
52.5 |
41.5 |
34.00 |
2543 |
21 |
IM |
Gretarsson Hjorvar Steinn | ISL |
2460 |
6.0 |
49.5 |
39.0 |
29.75 |
2513 |
FM |
Moen Andreas | NOR |
2360 |
6.0 |
49.5 |
39.0 |
29.75 |
2431 |
|
23 |
GM |
Ipatov Alexander | TUR |
2561 |
6.0 |
49.0 |
39.5 |
30.25 |
2484 |
24 |
WGM |
L'ami Alina | ROU |
2372 |
6.0 |
49.0 |
37.5 |
30.00 |
2414 |
25 |
GM |
Williams Simon K | ENG |
2506 |
6.0 |
48.0 |
37.0 |
28.75 |
2462 |
26 |
IM |
Kristiansen Jens | DEN |
2432 |
6.0 |
47.0 |
36.5 |
30.00 |
2403 |
27 |
IM |
Krush Irina | USA |
2461 |
6.0 |
47.0 |
35.5 |
28.50 |
2457 |
28 |
GM |
Libiszewski Fabien | FRA |
2523 |
6.0 |
46.5 |
36.5 |
30.00 |
2406 |
29 |
IM |
Ziska Helgi Dam | FAI |
2456 |
6.0 |
46.5 |
35.5 |
29.00 |
2431 |
30 |
FM |
Sigfusson Sigurdur | ISL |
2346 |
6.0 |
46.0 |
34.5 |
27.75 |
2378 |
31 |
IM |
Arnold Marc T | USA |
2502 |
6.0 |
45.5 |
35.0 |
29.00 |
2414 |
32 |
FM |
Kiewra Keaton F | USA |
2355 |
6.0 |
44.5 |
34.5 |
28.25 |
2353 |
33 |
GM |
Shulman Yuri | USA |
2594 |
6.0 |
43.5 |
34.5 |
27.25 |
2317 |
34 |
FM |
Thompson Ian D | ENG |
2255 |
6.0 |
41.5 |
32.0 |
23.50 |
2273 |
LinksThe games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 11 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs. |
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